2008 WSOP FINAL TABLE REALITY SHOW?

My speculative take on how this years delayed WSOP main event table circus will go down…

I imagine;

Before the Main Event even starts, every player willing to pony up $10K to play, will NOW have to sign a series of legal waivers and maybe even a contract allowing the powers that be to have full creative control over the players and their lives concerning their involvement in the 4 month long hype-circus leading up to the final table.

No matter what the players looks like, how old they are, how dull or interesting they are, how rich or poor, will not make any difference in their exposure and inevitable exploitation for the masses in order for the money men in control to grind every penny out of this opportunity.

It will essentially be another cheesy “reality show” with camera crews following around the players for extended lengths of time leading up to the November Final Table. By the time it rolls around, we will probably know WAY too much about these people, but it should be fun and interesting to see how it pans out.

I personally love when the Hollywood machine attempts to sweeten up the images of average poker degenerates in order to make them more marketable.

I’m looking forward to see how it pans out; you can bet that the best Hollywood producer types are flinging ideas around like crazy right now!

Let’s here some of your speculations…

I think it will be funny as hell as the cameras follow me around at work for 3 1/2 months. 9th place money isn't enough to retire on.

Oh wait... I have to win a seat first.

At least one player that makes the final table will have a basic, boring life. I think the massive publicity stunt will fail to generate the buzz that ESPN/Harrahs thinks it will.

Let's skip the speculation and go straight to the source, shall we?

From this article:

"The November Nine will be encouraged to stick around the next day (July 15) for a photo shoot, but according to WSOP Communications Director Seth Palansky, "Nothing is mandatory." The Player Release Form for all Main Event entrants is the same form used in prior years, and the November Nine will have no additional responsibilities forced upon them. There are no "reality TV" scenarios, and if the players don't want any ESPN cameras following them home, that is their choice. "

I guess maybe they could film something that could be broadcast afterwards if they players wanted to be a part of it, but keep in mind too that there won't actually be a break in the televised schedule.

While we know that there's a four month break between the final nine being decided and the winner being crowned, Joe Public will be watching one episode a week in that time. So ESPN would have, at most, a week (in between the time when they televise the episode where they get down to the final nine, and when the final table is played) to use any "reality show" footage.

So basically the entire WSOP will be a reality show where players are eliminated throughout the course of the show which culminates with a final "live" episode at the end. Sounds very much like most of the reality shows on TV today to me. The only difference is the players actually have to pay $10K to be on the show instead of being paid to be on the show. If this is the case, I think every single player should be allowed to get as many sponsors as possible and not have their sponsor blurred or masked when they happen to appear on camera.

If I made the final table and they gave me 600 grand, to hold me over until the big finish, they would have 4 months of tape of me doing nothing but playing poker/reading poker/watching poker/etc. (I would put the time in and really try to win the thing - I mean obviously everyone that makes it wants to win but will all of them spend the 4 months preparing?)

lol their video footage of me would be me drinking beer and messing around with promiscuous girls. high ratings iyam.

This would be the perfect preparation, because if you make it to the final table you shouldn't need any more books.

i already read like 50 books

Erm... I didn't think any got blurred now? The only ones they're not allowed to have seem to be .com poker sites, but that's because of US government legislation, not any commercial decision made by the WSOP organisers.

they get blurred in the WPT broadcasts, but those suck anyway

edit; blurred = they put black tape over it

Gotcha, that's probably the case. I hadn't thought of that.

You may not need to read anymore books, but this year you will be able to go back and watch all of your opponents plays (in the same tournament as well).

thx for the link OZ, very informative and even more interesting that the players can now choose their own level of involvement in the hype circus.

but it was fun to speculate! I'm still looking fwd to it

Four months of sleeping